THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 216, September 30, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP UNDER THE U.S. CONSTITUTION
By Dr. John Eastman
THE BASIC POLITICAL THEORY & FUNDAMENTAL LAW UNDERLYING THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC:
RULE BASED ON THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED & THE TRUE DEFINITION OF BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP CONTAINED IN
THE CITIZENSHIP CLAUSE IN THE FOURTEENTH ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
FULL STORY:
The Framers of both our Federal Constitution and its Fourteenth Amendment understood citizenship to be grounded in the
principle of consent. The significance of consent derives from the proposition that "all men are created equal," which requires that
no one may be ruled without his or her consent. This revolutionary concept ennobled the meaning of citizenship by rejecting
decisively the prior concept of "subjectship," by which anyone born within the geographical rule of the British king would remain
his subject forever. The meaning of citizenship, which is connected instead to reason and free choice, stands at the center of what
distinguishes the American experiment from older nations, which were founded upon little else but "accident and force." Sadly, we
have forgotten the meaning and significance of citizenship in recent decades, just as we have forgotten the meaning of our social
compact designed to effect certain, limited, goals. Recent policies which define citizenship as flowing merely from birth upon
American soil harkens back to those older times, depreciating what makes America most unique.
The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution defines as a citizen "all persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." The clause contains two components that bear equally on
citizenship qualifications: one must not only be born geographically in the United States, but also politically subject to the
government of the United States. The critical act of consent which distinguishes citizens from subjects is missing from our current,
partial, reading of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The practical significance of this misreading includes the automatic granting of citizenship to the children of those aliens who have
entered the country illegally, rather than respecting the laws passed by Congress which govern immigration and naturalization.
Another recent, egregious misapplication of the Citizenship Clause afforded Yasir Esam Hamdi, a Taliban fighter born of Saudi
parents while visiting the United States, full "due process rights" as a citizen of the United States of America. Hamdi never
consented to affiliate with or bear allegiance to this country, its governing principles, or its laws. He was in fact captured on the
battlefield while bearing arms against American troops. That an enemy of the United States could claim protection of the very laws
and processes against which he fought is but one example of the bizarre definition of citizenship which has received sanction by
recent jurisprudence of our courts.
The current practice of automatically recognizing as a citizen anyone who happened to be born on American soil comports with
neither the text nor the history of the Citizenship Clause, nor with the most basic political theory which it was meant to restore. It is
time to again recognize the significance of jurisdiction and of consent, and with these the full meaning of American citizenship and
our social compact.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
U.S. Constitutional Law & Political Philosophy
The American Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States of America
-------------------------
POLITICAL THEORY UNDERLYING THE CONSTITUTION
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
SELECTED ESSAYS FROM
THE FEDERALIST
Editor's Note & Introduction
Federalist 10 (James Madison)
Federalist 47 (James
Madison)
Federalist 48 (James Madison)
Federalist 51 (James
Madison)
Federalist 71 (Alexander Hamilton)
Federalist 78
(Alexander Hamilton)
Dr. John Eastman is Professor of Law at the Chapman University School of Law, Orange, California, and Executive Director of the
Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, 937 West
Foothill Boulevard, Claremont, California. The foregoing article by Professor Eastman was originally published in the September 28,
2005, issue of the Claremont Institute's weekly periodical, Precepts.
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